Days 96 - 97: Introduction to Climbing on Bolts Course with NZ Alpine Club

I spent the weekend down in Wharepapa, rock climbing and learning to lead climb on bolts!  It was really exciting.  After I left the Glendowie camp on Friday night, my fellow instructors Sara and Gloria and I went back to Adspecs to put some gear away and wash kayaks.  Then I grabbed some rock climbing gear that I was hiring from Adspecs (turns out they didn't charge me for it) and headed for home to pack because I was meeting my ride the next morning at 6:15 - bah!  I got everything sorted (including some laundry which I crossed my fingers and hoped would be dry by the time I got up) and was in bed by midnight.  The next morning I was up at 5 getting last minute things together.  Everyone was supposed to bring their own food, as we were staying in a hostel with a kitchen.  Meeting up with Dave, the guy I rode down with, went fine, and we had interesting conversation on the 2 and a half hour drive.

Once we arrived at Bryce's (the name of the hostel - there's also a climbing gear shop inside) I met the other people in my course.  Apart from Dave, the other students were Alan, Michael and Charis.  And me.  Our instructors were Magnus (from Sweden) and Sean.  First off they checked our gear to see who had what.  I had a harness, but it was a pretty crappy one (uncomfortable to wear for a long time) and Magnus let me use a club harness and helmet, which I didn't have.  Sean let me borrow one of his sling to use as a safety, and also his quickdraws.  Sweet deal. 

After the gear was sorted we headed off to the crag.  We climbed at Castle Rock, which is right down the road from Bryce's.  The rock is of a type known as ignimbrite, and it's volcanic rock deposited where it is by the eruption of Mt. Taupo, several hours further drive away.  As the rock cooled, it formed lots of pockets, like where bubbles burst or something, which make for good handholds and footholds.  Thus, it's good climbing.  It's also really solid rock, not known for pieces chipping off.  Which also makes for good climbing.

On location we had some instruction about what we were to do, how to tie in, how to clip into the bolts, and how to rig quickdraws at the top to be lowered back down by our belayer.  Previously to this point, all the climbing I've ever done has been top-roped, meaning that there's a rope hanging down from the top that you tie into, and someone belays you, taking in the slack as you climb.  That way if you fall you mostly just swing back and forth and generally stay at the same height you were at before you fell.  With lead climbing, there's no top rope set up, or you might lead climb a route to set a top rope for others.  You can also lead multi-pitch climbs, where you climb and set up an anchor at the top to belay the second person up after you.  Anyway, in lead climbing you tie into the rope and start to climb.  Until you get to the first bolt (a ring or metal securely fastened into deep holes in the rock with glue - pretty bomb proof), if you fall you will hit the ground.  There's nothing to stop that happening.  Some of the bolts on the routes we climbed were 2 meters or more off the ground.  So a fall is going to hurt, not to mention scraping yourself across a lot of rough rock.  When you do get within reach of a bolt, though, you clip in with a quickdraw (two carribiners attached with a piece of webbing) and then reach down for your rope and clip it into the quickdraw as well.  Now you're safe, as the person on the ground can take the slack in for you.  But as you climb above the bolt, you are once again susceptible to a fall - you will fall back to the height of the bolt and fall beyond it the amount of rope you have climbed past it.  I was amazed at the psychological value of being clipped in.  It was pretty scary at times, knowing that you will fall if you screw up a move, and feels so good to be able to clip in and know that, for the moment at least, you're safe. 

For the first day of climbing we just had our belayers lower us to the ground.  But on the evening of day one, we learned how to abseil down by outselves.  This method has the advantage in that you don't leave any gear at the top of the climb.  It was still scary to set it up the first few times, knowing that my life was basically in my own hands if I made a mistake.  But I didn't have any disasterous falls, and life was good.  It was a pretty fun adrenaline rush and more demanding than top roping.  At times I had to tell myself that I COULD make a move, even when my mind wanted to panic and just quit. 

I mostly climbed with Charis, who is originally from Hong Kong but in NZ to study chemistry and geology.  We exchanged contact details and I hope to get to climb with her more.  She also likes tramping and maybe we could arrange a trip together or something.  I enjoyed meeting everyone in my class and learning more about knots and rock climbing and all of that.  We had a bit of a bouldering party during the evening of the first day, and I was really impressed by how good climbers people were.  I know I have a lot to learn about technique, but I'm excited.  Yet again, I don't have any photos; blame it on my physical exhaustion or maybe I just forgot... however the green shoes at the top are the same ones that I just purchased to launch my climbing career!

Days 92 - 95: Glendowie PE Camp

I have just spent the last four days working for Adventure Specialties Trust on a school camp.  We had three PE classes from Glendowie College staying at the Moto Moana Scout Camp to do abseiling, challenge course and flying fox, sea kayaking and tramping with an overnight in a cave.  I was in charge of the challenge course and the flying fox, and did two sessions per day on it.  I also got to set up the abseil anchors on the abseil tower two of the three days, which is good practice for me and a chance to learn some new techniques.

At night we played games with the kids (there were about 70 of them) like "stealth" where you have to sneak through the woods to find a light hanging from a tree without being spotted by the guards hiding in the bush.  Good fun.  We also had a campfire and I taught the kids the "There are no bananas in the sky" song from camp. 

I don't have any photos of the kids on the challenge course, although that would have been fun to see.  The challenge course is just a bunch of obstacles for them to get themselves through, and as an extra challenge I made one person from each group be blindfolded on each obstacle.  They also had to carry a Moa egg (volleyball) through the course without letting it touch the ground.  Once they finished the course we played on the flying fox (zipline).  It was a fun, but tiring, week.

Here's a photo of the abseil tower.

Days 78 - 88: Youthtown Holiday Programme

The day after getting back from Cape Reinga, it was back to work for Youthtown, this time with their teen holiday programme, Breakaway.  The government has provided some money for teens from disadvantaged areas in Auckland to attend a holiday program for free.  So we were working with kids between the ages of 14 and 17 doing a variety of outdoor activities for the two weeks of their school holidays.  Here are what my days looked like:

On Tuesday we were at a scout camp in west Auckland where, I assisted with abseiling and then taught a camp craft session, which involved camp set-up, outdoor cooking (we made vegetarian foil dinners), introduction to camp stoves and firebuilding (we had a firebuilding competition to see whose fire could burn through a suspended string first.)  I had designed the camp craft session and as this was my first time running it I didn't feel very encouraged about it after the first session.  I realized the next day that it wasn't that things hadn't gone well, because we'd accomplished everything that I'd intended, but I was just questioning my ability to lead and teach, mostly because of one of the other instructors who was assisting but was putting off vibes that I wasn't doing things correctly.  So I just let my insecurities get the better of me.  Wednesday was a very similar day, except I felt much better after my session.

On Thursday and Friday we moved venues and brought all of the kids north of Auckland to Wenderholme, which is one of Auckland's regional parks.  There we had a rotation of four activities: kayaking, coasteering (walking along the coastline), bush craft and orienteering.  I ran the bush craft sessions, two a day, where we practiced some knots and the kids built shelters and tested them to see how waterproof they were by dumping buckets of water over them.  The intent was to teach a little bit of first aid as well, and to do some first aid simulations, but none of the groups had time so instead I just gave them fake injuries (we had some fake blood) and sent them on their way.

The next week we started out on Monday with some Active Sports.  Youthtown has a team based in South Auckland (where I live) who go into schools to organize sports days.  So we did warm-ups with them, then played a game of soccer (my team won like 7 - 0); then touch rugby, which I didn't really know how to play, but I figured it out, and then in the afternoon we played capture the flag.  I was so beat after that!  I pretty much went home and fell into my bed.

Tuesday was another day out at the scout camp, with another camp skills session and abseiling and archery and a challenge course.  Then Wednesday we went to the high ropes course at a nearby college.  I got to help belay and encourage kids.  It was fun, but also frustrating because the kids are so selfish and have a hard time being involved in anything that benefits the group as a whole, once they've had their turn they're not really interested, and they don't encourage each other, they just put each other down all the time.  Thursday  was the best day of the whole two weeks: we went to Woodhill Forest and went MOUNTAIN BIKING.  It was amazing.  They have heaps of trails out there and although it was scary at first I think I gained a lot of confidence and got to be better at going down steeps and over roots and even on a couple of structures (oooh!)  Such good times.  Another good workout that day, too.  We even rode our bikes through an area where they just finished filming the new Yogi Bear movie, with Justin Timberlake as one of the voices.  The movie won't be out for another couple of years, but when it does come out, you can say you heard about it here first.  Nifty.

The last day, Friday, we took the kids on a ferry out to Rangitoto Island.  This is an extinct volcano just off the coast of Auckland.  It has a distinctive shape and looks like a woman lying down (kind of like the mountain that you can see from Sugarloaf, I think it's Saddleback.)  Anyway, we got off the ferry and hiked over sharp volcanic rocks for an hour to Wreck Bay, where there are the skeletons of several old ships that were dragged into the harbor there and left to rot.  Nothing actually shipwrecked, they were just left there to dispose of them.  So that was pretty cool.  Once we got back to Auckland we had a pool party (the only photos I have are from the pool party and the ferry ride and the hike.)  And then the kids went home for good and the staff had their own little party which was good fun.  All in all it was a way cool two weeks and I got paid to do some really fun stuff.  Good times.

Day 82: Auckland War Museum

Today I took myself into Auckland to visit the War Museum.  Not only are there a number of displays about wars and NZ's role in wars, there's also quite a bit about NZ in general and lots about Maori culture.  I only had time to have a look around the bottom floor of the museum - there are actually three floors, so I'll need to go back to see the rest.  The museum is currently running a promotion called "I AM Free for Autumn" (the AM stands for Auckland Museum.) If you can prove you are a resident of Auckland, you don't have to pay the suggested donation of $10.  Since I have a library card from the Manurewa Library, that means I don't have to pay!  Pretty sweet.  So I should really plan to go back there soon before they start making the donation mandatory again.  Here are some photos of some of the things I saw:

Above is a detail of the marae, a Maori style community house.  It's pronounced mah-RYE.  To go inside you were requested to take off your shoes, that's the tradition.  It was really beautifully carved inside, as you can see.  Below is a larger photo of the inside of the marae.  I think a marae would be used as a gathering place for a community event, like a funeral or a wedding.  People would just sleep out all together on the floor.  For that reason if you're sleeping like that you can call it "marae style," and people know what you mean.  Many communities will have a marae and you will often see signs directing you to the marae as you drive through a town.

Another cool thing that I saw was an old Maori canoe.  This canoe could have held 100 people.  It was also beautifully carved, very long, and really impressive.

Detail of the carving on the canoe:

This little building was used for food storage.  The carved figures represent the chief elder and other important people in the tribe.

It seems that all I took photos of was the Maori things.  I also saw an exhibit on things invented/designed/made in New Zealand and an exhibit on being a kid in New Zealand throughout the years. But I didn't take any photos.

Days 74 - 77: Cape Reinga Coastal Walkway

This weekend is Easter.  And, it being New Zealand, people actually get vacation from work on Easter.  Most people have Good Friday off from work, and kids have it off of school.  Most people also have Easter Monday off, too, making it a nice four day weekend.  Frequently people travel on Easter, and a lot of popular hiking spots and huts are overwhelmed with visitors because so many people head into the hills.  It is actually the start of two weeks of holidays for school kids.  Their school year starts at the end of January, and is divided into four 10 week terms.  In between each term they get two weeks off, and at the end of Term 4 is the start of their Christmas holidays, which is about six weeks or so. 

At any rate, it being Easter and all, I decided to tag along when Alex invited me to join herself, John, and John's workmate Lemuel on a trip to hike on the Cape Reinga Coastal Walkway over Easter.  Cape Reinga is at the extreme far north of New Zealand.  It's about a six hour drive from Auckland.  We left on Thursday to try and avoid the masses of traffic that occurs on the Easter weekend, as everyone flees the city and goes off to do something fun.  Thursday night we spent in Whangerei, at the home of one of John's mates from the south island.  Then we headed off bright and early on Friday morning, driving ever farther north.  We arrived at our destination at about noon, and stashed a bicycle at one end of the trailhead.  The idea was that John would hike ahead and ride the bike back to the car, which would be at the other end, and then drive back and get us.  We then drove to the other end of the trailhead, where we would start, and had some lunch, then hit the trail.  We walked right along the beach for about three hours.  It was a bit depressing because we could see where we wanted to get to, and it looked so far away and not like it was getting any closer.  But it was great to be hiking (although I can say now that hiking on a beach is not my favorite, even though we were hiking in the hard sand and not in soft stuff) and also hiking with other people.

That night we camped at Pandora Bay.  Unfortunately it did not feature light up plants or blue people like Avatar.  But we did have some good sing-a-longs around the camp stove (no fires allowed since they are having a drought up there) and some delicious dehydrated chili with noodles for dinner.  Mmm.  Another yummy hiking food are gummy jet planes.  They're like gummified Kool Aid!  So yummy, and they're shaped like jet planes, so you can fly them around and crash them into things before you eat them.  Mmm again.

The next day featured some actually bush hiking, as we gained elevation from Pandora heading inland and then turned west at the top of the ridge.  We continued along, going slightly up and down on the undulating landscape, but also moving pretty slowly.  A lunchtime convention turned into a three hour siesta, as we debated our slow pace and the realization that we wouldn't be able to hike as much as we'd planned originally.  So we changed our plan and headed for the DOC campground at Tapotupotu Bay.  John would then go back the way we'd come the next day, get the car and drive around to the campground, because there's a road that goes there.  So we continued hiking and were rewarded with some awesome cliff-top views of waves crashing onto shores far below us.  We made it into the campground that evening, and decided to camp across a tidal river from the main campground (see low and high tide photos below).  This meant that there were times during the day when we couldn't get to the other side, where the toilets and shower and beach were, but also that we didn't have to be amongst the other holiday goers who were crowded into the campground.  We set up camp and had a little "Chicken & sumthin' #12," which consisted of dehydrated chicken, mashed potatoes, soup mix and dehydrated veggies.  It was really tasty!

The next morning John got up really early and ran back to where we'd left the car (he is a little crazy like that.) We were having breakfast at about 10 am by the time he came back.  Since we'd decided to stay at the campground, we settled down for a day of leisure.  Alex taught me how to weave flax leaves into cool flowers, and John made pancakes over the stove and put chocolate and honey on them.  We played a short version of "Up and Down the River" which Alex won handily, even though she'd just learned the game.  Once the tide went down, we waded across the river to go for a swim at the beach.  The waves were intense, and it was fun to try and body surf them.  I got knocked around by a couple, turned upside down, and got a ton of salt in my eyes and throat, but it was good nonetheless.  I don't think I've ever experienced surf that was larger.  Certainly not on Deer Isle!  These waves were breaking higher than my head!  It was a good reminder of the power of water.  I'm not giving up on my dream of being a surf champion just yet, but it is certainly going to be a lot of hard work!  I got really tired out just jumping into the waves!

After some cold showers to rinse off, we tried our hand at fishing in our tidal stream.  The fish were eating the bait, but they were too small for the hook we had.  All we had was a hand line, so we couldn't fish in the surf because there weren't any good rocks to stand on and apparently that's how many fisherman get injured/die because they get swept off the rocks into the surf.  Then we decided to take a trip to Cape Reinga.  If we'd kept on hiking we would have hiked there, but since we didn't we just drove.  There's a pretty little lighthouse at the end, and it was nice to sit on a bench and watch the sun set.  Cape Reinga is the meeting point of the Tasman Sea (between NZ and Australia) and the Pacific Ocean, and you can see the two bodies of water slamming together in diagonal waves as they come arounf either side of the Cape.  The Maori believe Cape Reinga is the departure point for souls as they leave the earth.  There's also a cool wind instrument built into the archway that you walk under to go down the path to the lighthouse.  It uses the wind to make varying breathy notes.  The result sounds very cool.

Back at our campsite we made dinner (more chili only with rice this time) and played another round of "Up and Down the River."  This time I won, with 1 point!  Everyone else had a negative score!

The next day we packed up just as it started to rain, and left the campsite earlier than most everyone else.    We stopped at the Te Paki Giant Sand dunes which are nearby.  They are enormous - much larger than the dunes at Kangaroo Island in South Australia.  John and Alex and I hiked up to the top of one and bounded back down.  The photo here shows the view from the very foot of the dune, with John at the top for scale.  Then we settled into the car for the long drive back home.  It was wonderful to get the chance to go north, and great to have friends with whom to share the experience!